Historical Dictionary of Australian and New Zealand Cinema

Book excerpt: Whether it was Jane Campion's The Piano, Mel Gibson in Mad Max, Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee, or The Lord of the Rings saga, we have all experienced the cinema of Australia and New Zealand. This book is an introduction and guide to the film of these countries. While it is obviously more scholarly than a cinema or fan magazine, it covers some of the same ground, with entries on many exceptional producers, directors, writers and actors, as well as the films indicated above and many others. But it also presents the early pioneers, the cinemas themselves, the film companies and government bodies, and much more in its hundreds of dictionary entries. Through a chronology that shows how far these cinemas have come in a short time and an introduction that presents them more broadly, a clear portrait of the two countries' cinemas emerge.